


all this time

by peterandmichelle



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: (not related to far from home), Deep Conversations, Dorks having a lot of fun, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Peter Ned and MJ are all becoming a bomb ass group, Peter gets to know Michelle, after hoco, mj dates other guys but they aren't good enough, peter and ned love and appreciate michelle Jones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 04:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17175593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterandmichelle/pseuds/peterandmichelle
Summary: i came up with the idea of this fic based off the song 'all this time' by one republic (it's amazing if u haven't listened, its my favorite song), and this is just another idea I've had in my head about how spideychelle/petermj become friends and eventually more than that. this is going to be a long one, so grab your popcorn and enjoy, my crackheads ;))).





	1. not so ordinary

Peter didn't want to feel different. He didn't feel too special in the first place. He thought of himself as this ordinary kid from Queens, with ordinary desires and an ordinary appreciation for everything that comes with being 17 in one of the biggest cities in the world. He felt like only a speck of the earth, one tiny dot out of the millions that surrounded the city of New York. It was only out of pure luck that he became a bit extraordinary, yet no one knew about it. The closest people he loved and trusted and would die for, were the exceptions. Because he became a superhero - because by putting his life on the line for others, he now had an appreciation for life and the fragileness of it - he now knew no one was ordinary. He never encountered the same type of person; everyone had unique and individual problems of their own, and he loved how although people were squeezed onto the same island, sometimes walking in the same direction, to the same place, at the same pace, they each had a different reason for walking. Everyone had a different purpose to serve and Peter felt his was being the city's masked hero. To this day he feels grateful for the experience of being Spider-Man, which has opened him up to a new perspective of life - all people were different and it was beautiful.

How different was he from everyone else, though? Peter didn't feel any different than most, yeah sure, he was a little too shy and awkward for his liking, and sometimes he hated occasionally being called a loser, but those were all things a lot of people at his school had experienced, and it didn't set him apart from the rest. He knew Spider-Man had a clear purpose and was praised highly by most people, but what made Peter Parker, Midtown student, just as special as the hero he was on the side? That was for Peter to find out on his own time. He couldn't ask, he couldn't guess, he just had to know. He already felt special with one part of him; now it was his time to identify what made him important on the other side of him, the more important side, the man he was becoming, someone he couldn't use powers to hide.

In Michelle Jones' case, she had always felt different from the rest. From her lack of friends to her facial expressions, everything seperated her from everyone. Michelle wanted nothing but to feel different, for she decided it was the only way she ever would feel special on this Earth. She achieved her differences by dressing out of the ordinary, sometimes in strange thrift store clothing, sometimes in bulky worn out jackets that no one wore. Sometimes it was simply wearing her hair out naturally, wearing no makeup even at the most formal occasions, putting emphasis on her refusal to change her natural traits for anybody. She learned to love who she was ever since she was born, even if sometimes it felt like she was loved by no one at all. This was ridiculous, she thought. She had the nicest most supportive family she could imagine. And like Peter, she was grateful for the way her life had shaped before her.

These two people were very different from each other. Their differences made it extremely more difficult to break through the heavy, stubborn wall the two had created for each other the past few years of being at the same school. They were in a lot of the same classes, she was the decathalon leader and he was a member, and their interests would sometimes overlap with each other, yet they never talked about it. They never talked at all.

Peter felt too intimidated by Michelle to ever try to break through her walls; he didn't think she was interested in his company, or anyone's, whatever kind of company that would insist. He stayed in his comfort zone for the most part, as least while he was unmasked, and he was completely fine never taking risks. He lived for balance and anything that would shake up the consistent pattern of his life would frustrate and utterly confuse Peter. That's especially why he loved and cherished having Ned by his side this whole time. For him, Ned Leeds was a person who contributed to Peter's balanced life. He never once let Peter down; their bond remained strong after all these years of every frustratingly complex phase that Peter took on, but Peter never became overwhelmed by his hard times. He knew Ned was there for life and that his purpose for being in his life was to keep everything in perfect harmony before something else would stir up Peter's emotions again.

What would happen if things changed between them, though? Would it mean his comforting balance of life would be tampered with? The thought of losing Ned just the slightest made Peter nervous, and he tried not to think about it until it actually would become a problem for him. And it did.

It all started when he was expecting Ned at his locker in the morning, the usual routine they had. From his locker they would walk through the halls, and Peter would walk Ned to his first period or vice versa. That way neither of them would be by themselves during the ten minutes they had to spare. But he wasn't there. It was the first time Ned didn't show since last year when he left early for Christmas break. He wondered if his friend was just sick or something, but Ned was never sick, like ever.

Naturally, Peter turned to his phone to see what the deal was with his late friend.

**dude, where are you? i've been waiting at my locker like usual for like 5 minutes**

**you're seriously scaring me, man**

After Peter sent the text, the answer for Ned's whereabouts appeared right in front of his eyes. There he was, his happy self, walking alongside Michelle Jones, a rare expression of excitement on her face as well. Peter wanted to pinch himself to get him out of this real life nightmare of a scenario. Ned never had any other friends. For fucks sake, Michelle didn't have any friends! Why has so much changed over the past day, did he miss something? Or was he right for assuming something was up with his friend?

But it turned out Peter was looking too much into it. Ned gave Peter their usual dorky handshake, said "Hey, man!", and strolled along with Michelle like nothing happened, like he didn't leave Peter alone for the past five minutes.

He used his heightened senses to detect what they were talking about, and he heard something over the lines of "our project is going to be fire, MJ".

So they _were_ friends. Every member of decathalon knew Michelle only let her friends call her MJ. So that must've meant her and Ned were cool now. So why didn't Ned tell him about it? They share everything to each other, and Peter thought it was a bit out of character for Ned to hide a new friendship from him.

As the bell rang, Peter received a response from his missing friend.

**was just talking to mj. we're doing this history thing together and we were talking about the homework assignment last night.**

**she wanted me to see her in the morning because she was worried about her idea not being good enough.**

**all is good, bro. don't worry**

Peter wanted to hit himself on the head for forgetting about the part where Ned said "our project is going to be fire". He felt like an overprotective father. He didn't like the part of him that worried about every little thing that was out of the ordinary, like Ned talking to the class loner instead of meeting up with him, for example. He felt stupid and selfish for caring so much about who Ned was talking to. Because Michelle honestly didn't deserve that. He barely knew her. So he tried not to judge them for seeming to be getting along; he knew Ned's place in his life was still very much there and quoting his friend - he had nothing to worry about - nothing at all.

So Peter aimed at thinking about other things than what he witnessed that morning. When Peter opened his laptop to check his email for the new science assignment, he quickly became absorbed into the world of news. The New York City news, he means. And they were all articles about Spider-Man's previous fight, in which he partook in capturing the city's most wanted serial killer, webbing him to a tree at Central Park, saving a young girl's life in the process. He smiled at the praise, yet his expression faded when he remembered everything he's accomplished has led him to feel more pressured by the city to do even more, and the least he wants is to ever let the city down. 

But now May had taken his suit away for at least another week. She made a point in telling him to never mess with mass murderers.

_"What were you thinking, Peter! You could have died out there," His aunt's voice was cracking, the tears in her eyes now rolling down her cheek simultaneously, "Where's the suit?" She asked, sternly._

_Peter got afraid whenever May talked in her strict tone, and at first he hesitated in giving her the suit,"But - you don't understand! What it's like to have everyone watching you, to hold a responsibility, to have all this weight on your shoulders all the time!" Peter wasn't going to give out easily._

_May shook her head in response, baffled,"I don't understand what it feels like to have pressure? Are you kidding me, Peter? Do you have any idea what it's like to constantly be worried about someone's wellbeing and feeling like you have no power to keep them safe at all times? Do you understand at all what it's like to look after someone else's child? I have a great amount of responsibilty." The tears kept coming, and they weren't stopping for long._

_She was right; Peter didn't know what he was thinking to talk to May that way. She had been such an amazing aunt who suffered so much in her life to take care of him. He was taking advantage of her support by going out even when she told him he couldn't, risking his life when she told him not to, so slowly, he handed over the suit while closing his eyes. He couldn't bare to_ look _at her with everything he had said. He was ashamed of it all._

The anxiety built up inside of him, the feeling like his purpose had been taken away from him all at once. He felt like nothing without his suit, and maybe Mr. Stark was right indeed - he shouldn't have the suit. At least not right now.

So as first, second, third, and fourth period progressed, Peter found himself tripping over his nervousness of not being Spider-Man for a week. He was going to have to find other ways to fill his time. At least Christmas break was coming up, and Ned wasn't doing anything this year. They could hang out all week long if they wanted to. And definitely have their own mini New Years Eve party. Peter smiled at the thought of that; because if he wasn't patrolling the city all night long, he knew who he'd rather spend his nights with.

At lunch, came the same surprise from the morning, in a seperate shape and form. Ned and Michelle had returned once again, permanent grins remaining on their face, now talking about an incident in history class.

"Hey Ned, uh- hey, Michelle. What are you guys talking about?" He knew exactly what they were talking about.

Ned and Michelle looked at each other at the same time, when Ned decided to speak, "Oh nothing. Just Flash getting a wedgie in history class!" Their laughter set off again after Ned imitated Flash's little incident.

Normally, Peter would be delighted to hear about anything that consisted of Flash getting embarassed, but today he wasn't having it. He decided there was no point in avoiding the change of seating arrangements, with Michelle across from Peter, Ned by her side. "So, you guys are friends now, or something?" He gave effort in trying to sound excited about it.

"Is there a problem with it?" Michelle bluntly inquired.

"No! What? No," Peter laughed uncomfortably, "What made you get that idea?" He knew why she'd get that idea. Anyone would - he wasn't exactly a proficient liar.

"Because you're acting all weird about it. Now, you're usually pretty weird, but. You've taken it up a level." She deadpanned, eating her sandwich rapidly.

"Well I hope there isn't a problem, Peter, because I asked her to come along with me to movie night..." Ned awkwardly jumped in the tension-filled conversation. He wasn't helping at all.

"What? I mean, cool! I'd be glad to have you over at my house, Michelle." Peter tried his very best to sound encouraging, but he wasn't so enthusiastic about what Ned previously stated out of the blue.

"Sure, nerd." Michelle simply replied, then went back to eating her lunch.

Ned looked like he wanted to kill Peter's guts, and Peter understood why. Peter really couldn't understand his messy reaction to all of this, because it wasn't a big deal. Except it was. Peter had never had anyone other than Ned over to his house, and he wasn't exactly the social type, the type who was completely capable of functioning well with people he had yet to get to know. These were the times where he hated feeling awkward all the time, but maybe this was good for him. Maybe the thing he was missing was a change, sure, change terrified him, but what was the worst that could happen?

 _What was the worst that could happen?_ Peter kept that mindset drilled into his brain for as long as he was able to.

As the lunch bell rang, Michelle turned around to the guys and said, "See you tomorrow, losers." She dumped her paper bag into the trash and hastily faded into the crowd of students.

"Please don't kill me." Ned said, worried about what Peter was thinking about all of this. He did just invite someone over to someone else's house without the person knowing, so Peter did have credible reasoning behind him acting weirdly.

All Peter could hope was that the plan wouldn't turn into a disaster.

 


	2. three's a crowd

Before Peter knew it, he was sitting in third period Math, dozing off into a cloud of nothing, wanting to be anywhere but where he was sitting. He wanted to fast forward the day to night, where he could finally make things better with Michelle and Ned, assuring them that he didn't mind either of their company, and that he was only thinking of himself at the time. He just wanted to rid any chaos that he could prevent, and let the other chaos in his life feel less noticeable with him knowing he can at least put an end to one problem in his life which was tonight. He wanted to get to know Michelle; he wanted to see something in her that Ned saw quicker than he did. He knew she was a good person and that he hadn't given her a chance yet. He decided he wanted more than one friend after all. Some part of his decision to be open to being friends was also out of fear that Ned would be disappointed in him otherwise for neglecting his new friend. He didn't want Ned to drift away with Michelle because Peter was acting all weird around them. So he put his mixed feelings to rest - he knew how it felt to be excluded and he didn't want to be a hypocrite and do the same thing to Michelle.

He just never found Michelle all that nice to begin with. He liked approachable people, and she was the farthest from that. He does remember the time when she flipped him off at homecoming, which shook his core to say the least. But he let it slide since he had more important things to worry about that night, but the more he thought about it, Michelle had never been nice to Peter. He wasn't paying attention enough at the time to care, but, now it hurt him that she acted that way, and he wanted to know why she so seemed so mean to him all the time. The more he started to think about her, the more curious he became about her. Ned's new friendship may have been a mystery to him, but she was the mystery all in itself.

They sat together at lunch again, and Peter began to take notice of Michelle, and what she said and did around him. He was determined to figure her out, the puzzle that she was. He studied her face for a few seconds, noticing her cheeks the slightest bit pink. She was playing with a strand of her wavy hair, looked up, and said, "What do you want, Parker?" Her tone was the same as it had always been the few times she had talked to him before. She definitely thought Peter was being creepy.

"Sorry, there's just a- um, a spider near you and I was looking at it." Very buyable, Peter.

Michelle turned to her left, seeing no bug whatsoever. "You afraid of spiders or something?" She slightly rolled her eyes knowing he was lying, and took out a book. Just then Ned came behind her and showed her their grade on the History project, an A. Peter never doubted she was smart.

Peter choked on his sandwich for a second. "Me? Afraid of bugs? That's laughable." He didn't want to admit he really was afraid of them...

"Mhm." She laughed a little, returning back to her new book.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence occurred, Michelle surrendered for everyone, "So what's the plan for tonight? What am I supposed to do?"

Peter cleared his throat, "Right! I forgot about that... uh, well just come by my apartment around 6, and bring snacks if you have any. That's kind of an obligation in my house. Otherwise we may not let you in."

"Don't listen to him. Do whatever you want. Of course, snacks would be awesome, but, all we need is your company. No offense, Peter, but we could definitely use some coolness at our movie nights!" Ned thinks he's so slick.

"Offense taken, dude! But yeah, what he said. You got my address?"

Michelle laughed. "How did you not know I live down the street from you, Parker? We have the same subway stop and everything. I know where you live."

Peter felt like a dumbass. She tended to make him feel that way on a daily basis. Was she just observant or was he that oblivious?

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you both at 6 then." And that was that. The day was sliding by, and it was almost time for the moment he had been anticipating.

When school ended, Peter hopped on the subway and looked around for Michelle, remembering she told him she took the same stop. She was sitting, reading the same book she had at lunch, her hair tied up this time, headphones in, emerged in whatever it was that she was reading. How did he not nice her all this time?

They both got off at the same time, and Peter ran to catch her, "Hey, Michelle! I can't believe I didn't know you had the same stop. I can be really stupid sometimes." He laughs, looking at the concrete.

"Oh, I know. It's cool, though," They walked to their apartments, slowly separating, when MJ said, "Hey Peter?"

Peter looked up at her, a bit surprisingly, "Yeah?"

"I don't hate you." She smiled ever so slightly, but Peter caught it.

"I didn't- well, um. That's good to know. And, I don't hate you either. It may have came off that way, but I really don't." He smiled at her slightly, too.

"I know you don't. I know you're just worried about me taking Ned away from you. I spot these things quickly, and there's really nothing to worry about. I'll see you tonight." She left Peter at his apartment, walking forward to hers which was near the end of the block.

"Yeah, see you tonight." Peter mumbled, knowing she couldn't hear him by now.

Maybe all this fear he had built up inside of him was all because he was worried she was going to take Ned from him. He was glad someone explained what he wasn't going to say out loud. He felt as if she addressed the elephant in the room. And now he was ready for tonight, actually more excited, feeling less awkward than before after Michelle reassured him she never resented him. He still wondered why she talked to him the way she did, though. But he tried to push the negative feelings about her aside, and appreciate her for what she just told him.

As Peter entered his apartment, he was greeted by his Aunt who now permanently held a concerned facial expression; she still held a tiny grudge towards Peter for what he said the other night. "Listen, Peter. I've thought about your actions, and I decided to call Tony himself and tell him he cannot request you any missions for this week, so you won't feel pressured by him to use the suit, okay? It's especially important because it's the holidays and I wouldn't want you being away from this apartment in the middle of the night going on these scare fests. Don't fight with me on this." She put her round silver glasses back on her face, and sat down at the kitchen table to pay bills.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I know you are responsible and I hated what I said so much I was ashamed to talk about it. I'm truly sorry," Peter took a deep breath, "You're the best Aunt-parent anyone could ever ask for, thank you." He walked over to May, gave her his signature tight and genuine hug, and walked into his room.

"You having Ned over for movie night?" She called from the opposite side of the apartment.

Peter forgot to mention Michelle, "Yeah. Actually, another friend of mine is coming as well; she'll be here at 6 as well."

May gasped. "A "she"? Peter I'm so proud of you! You can talk to girls!" She exclaimed proudly.

Peter cringed at his aunt's poorly hidden excitement and assumptions, "No- it's not like that. It's just- Ned invited her, so. And I guess you could say she's growing on me, but we'll see." Peter shut his door, worried he'd be bombarded with more questions about his female friend.

May wasn't going to stop - it was the day she was preparing for, for a long time. "What's her name?"

"Michelle Jones."

"The decathalon leader?"

"Yep!" Peter said annoyingly.

"Wow so she's extra smart! Way to go! I have to meet this girl."

"As long as you don't embarrass me in the process, then go for it," Peter laughed anxiously, "I'll be mad forever if you manage to embarass me though."

"No I won't! I'm just happy you have a new friend now, that's all. And I'm happy for Ned too!"

Her enthusiasm started to scare the shit out of him. It made him feel pressured just like those news articles made him feel like he had to do a lot more from now on. May probably assumed Peter and Michelle were in good relation but to be honest, Peter didn't really know if Michelle was being genuine when she mentioned she never hated him. He still wanted to find out the explanation behind the way she used to act around him until recently.

When the clock hit 5:40, Peter took a quick shower. He groaned in the mirror after seeing his hair wouldn't manage to the gel that well. So he wet his hair again and decided to go full on curly that day - no one cared anyways.

Peter threw on a black t shirt and grey sweats and jumped onto the couch, the designated spot for movie nights. He grew a bit nervous about having his new guest over, so he cleaned up a bit more, cringing to himself seeing the wrapper of a Hershey's bar lying on the carpet. After cleaning up loose trash, he remained on the couch for a bit. Ned came five minutes early, and it took a few more minutes for Michelle to finally arrive. He knew she wasn't going to get lost on the way there since they were practically neighbors, and he quickly discovered the reason for her delayed arrival - a box of chocolate chip cookies were freshly prepared for them and still warm from the oven. _I like her now_ , Peter thought.

Ned gave Michelle a loving hug when he saw the cookies, and she just stood there awkwardly, clearly not into hugging.

Peter gave Michelle a tiny wave to say hi, and May ran over to Michelle to give her a welcoming handshake, a wide smile planted on the older woman's face.

"You must be Michelle. I'm so glad Peter has a female friend now! I was worried he would never have one..." Peter wanted to die officially now. This was what he had warned her about avoiding.

"I'm surprised I'm friends with him, too." She laughed evilly and Peter wanted to yell at her in annoyance.

May had a good sense of humor, so she laughed along too, wished the kids a good night, deciding to go out for the night with a friend to give them a bit more privacy. Peter knew she only did that so he could be alone with Michelle, though. He saw right through her efforts to make him talk to girls.

Ned stole the box of cookies and stuffed one into his mouth proudly. Peter took one as well, and he was tastefully reminded about how amazing homemade cookies always were.

"These may be the best cookies I've ever had." Peter sighed in satisfaction as he downed the cookie in a few seconds.

"I tried my best." Michelle grinned happily. She took the box from Ned and ate one herself and had the same reaction as the boys had.

Peter guided everyone to the couch to discuss what they were going to do. They all decided on _Gremlins_ since they wanted to see a Christmas movie but didn't want it to be a cheesy rom com. Michelle fell asleep halfway through the movie, though, and he could already tell she wasn't a horror movie type of person. Peter felt the same, actually. Ned attentively glued his eyes to the screen the whole movie while eating a bag of microwaved popcorn, not noticing the pieces that were flying on the ground, until one hit Michelle's face, "Hey! Was that you, Parker?" She straightened herself on the edge of the couch.

"No I swear it wasn't. I'm not even holding the popcorn!" Peter threw his hands up as a way to say "not me".

Michelle, seeing Ned with the popcorn, took it from him and ate a handful at once. "It's what you get for getting popcorn in my face and waking me up."

"But it wasn't on purpose!" Ned exclaimed frustratingly.

Michelle laughed and told him he still woke her up, therefore it gave her the right to proceed in stealing more popcorn out of Ned's bag, and lying back down onto the couch, this time falling over, her head on the center of the couch. Her hair touched Peter's leg and he got goose bumps. She opened her eyes right then and said, "Want some popcorn, loser?" He nodded and she opened her hand which contained a few pieces of popcorn and Peter took it from her, grazing her fingers in the process.

She stared at him for a few seconds, smiling ever so slightly before closing her eyes after Peter smiled back. She held the same smile as she did when they talked after they got off the subway. He remembered that smile well - it was one which gave him a sort of hope that she wasn't as mean or rude as he expected her to be, but instead a kind of hidden gem you only find if you really look carefully for it. He strived to find the kindness in her from here on out. Whenever he got that piece of her, he felt a warm feeling in his chest.

When the movie ended, Ned was sound asleep, too. Peter couldn't understand how they were completely knocked out at nine. He would take hours just to fall asleep at night. He didn't know how they did it so easily. Then the phone rang and Peter rushed into the kitchen to read the caller ID. It was May. She told him she'd be staying at a friend's since they hadn't caught up in a while. He asked if it was okay if his friends stayed over since they were all so exhausted. She told him to do whatever he wanted and to enjoy the rest of the night. After hanging up the phone, Michelle was walking over to the kitchen to approach Peter about something.

"Hey." She said sleepily, leaning onto the kitchen wall as she spoke.

"Hey." Peter said awkwardly, laughing a little at her tired self, because it was so different than how she was when she was wide awake. She lost all her wittyness when she was seconds from falling asleep. Peter thought it was kind of adorable. Wait what?

"Listen. I think I'm gonna have to stay the night. Is that okay with you?"

Peter lazily smiled, "Of course it is. You don't seem very energetic right now so I think it's the best option." He laughed to himself while staring attentively at the kitchen floor.

"Alright. Cool."

"Cool."

"Where do I sleep?" Michelle glanced across the room, Ned lying across the entire couch now, that spot being eliminated already.

"You can sleep on the top bunk in my room if you want." Peter gestured her to his bedroom, them both walking slowly over to the small dim lit room with the bunk beds. As she climbed onto the top of the beds, Peter stood there awkwardly, thinking about how just a little while ago he kind of resented her. His life was changing before him, and he still had to get used to the pace it was moving in.

"What do you want?"

Realizing he had just been staring at her for no reason, he saved himself, "I was just wondering something."

"What?"

He decided to ask her about the homecoming thing since it was the only thing he could come up with that was really bothering him.

"You're still mad about that? I thought you didn't really care about what I thought back then. I'm sorry if I offended you, though." Michelle looked at him, feeling a little bad.

Peter retracted, "No! No, I mean I was just wondering why you did it, that's all. It seemed a little random to me."

She sighed, looking like she was ready to confess something. "You really don't know? Like, you have no idea why I could've randomly flipped you off at a dance?"

Peter felt like he was missing something, because he really didn't know. She was so complex after all, it could be hard to understand her every move. "No, I don't. Should I?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "It's really not a big deal anymore it's just I-" Michelle struggled to put the words together. He never saw Michelle struggle to talk; that was usually his thing.

"What is it?" Peter leaned forward, trying to decipher what was pushing her back from telling him whatever she was going to say.

"I used to like you," She looked down at his comforter, embarrassed, "But it's in the past, I promise. I just think it's so weird because I didn't even know you. I don't know... please don't be weird about this."

Peter felt a little flattered to be honest, yet also confused to how she could possibly like him from afar. Liking Liz was one thing - but him? He didn't know he had that kind of power on someone, "It's all cool. I mean, it's cool that you liked me. I'm truly honored, Michelle."

Michelle grinned, "Don't get all full of yourself, Parker. It's in the past. But, yeah," she shrugged, lying back down on his pillow. "I'm going to bed now. I'm so fucking tired."

Peter lied under his covers below her. "Me too. Night, Michelle."

"One last thing."

"Yeah?"

"You can call me MJ."

"I've made it! Are we friends yet?" Peter grinned widely into his pillow.

"There's the ego again! And sure, but I still think you're a loser."

"Alright. Good night for real."

"Night, loser."

Peter lay there for a half hour thinking about how the day came to be. Maybe after all, Ned was right about bringing MJ into his life. Peter needed something new, and if it was going to be her, he was now completely okay with that. He was really grateful for the night - it made him feel a different way than most movie nights and Peter really didn't know what that was, but he knew he was happy about it.

MIchelle lay thinking about how she got two new friends this week - people she secretly wanted to be friends with all this time. She smiled at the thought of being able to talk about her life with them, talk about anything, bake cookies for them, whatever it was that friends did with each other.

They both knew it wasn't the last time the three would all see each other on Friday nights like these. And Peter was especially looking forward to next week. He drifted to sleep faster than usual, a smile on his face, ready to confront whatever twists and turns life was going to throw at him, and he knew everything was going to be okay. As long as he had his people.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
